Happy new year everyone! It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a blog post – partly because I’ve been busy with a new college course, partly because I’ve been lacking inspiration to write anything. One of my goals for 2019 is to focus on the blog more and come up with new content.
One exciting thing I’ve done lately is attend a vegan cookery course. I’ve always had a passion for cooking and trying different things, and I’ve always wanted to try a cookery course, but as a vegetarian it’s near impossible to find a veggie one that doesn’t involve handling sausages (oo-er).
Enter The Edergole Kitchen – run by Mike and Jo, they offer cookery classes and supper clubs, all totally vegan. Mike and Jo used to run an award winning restaurant in London so they absolutely know their stuff! My mum and I went along to learn more about vegan recipes.
When we arrived we were greeted by Mike and Jo, who offered us tea and the most delicious homemade apple pancakes. After getting settled in it was time to start on the recipes.
Each of us on the course got given a booklet full of the recipes we’d be making over the course of the day, and other recipes to try at home. The booklet also included information about veganism, and a list of vegan cupboard essentials.
We started off by making a marinade for tempeh. If you’ve never heard of tempeh, it’s a fermented soya bean product a little like tofu. We made an Asian-style marinade for ours using maple syrup, tamari, ginger, lime, chilli oil and garlic. The tempeh was set aside for a few hours, then fried. It went beautifully crispy, a little bit like bacon.
Next, it was time to make a sort of vegan Spanish omelette using tofu and chickpea flour. This dish was full of flavour and vegetables, and tasted delicious. Mike was on hand to help us with any questions. I loved how hands-on the course was, we got to cook everything ourselves and experiment with the different ingredients – some I’ve never used before, like a root called galangal.
Then it was time for Mike to show us how to make polenta. I love polenta and this was delicious fried until crispy. We were then split into groups and each group made a different sauce – 2 different types of pesto, a tomato pasta sauce and a satay sauce. The team me and mum were on made the satay sauce which was to die for, I can’t wait to make it again at home! The tomato pasta sauce was full of flavour and one of the best I’ve had – such a step up from jar sauces and so much better for you. The pestos were a hit too, even the garlic-free one was delicious.
Next it was time to make two different types of risotto. Our group made a wild mushroom one and the other group made a leek and orange risotto, which was very interesting. I loved experimenting with different flavours. I do love to cook and consider myself quite good at it but sometimes I hold back with flavours, and this course definitely showed me not to be afraid to try something new.
We also made various salads: tofu salad, crunchy beetroot, orange and cabbage salad, celeriac salad and carrot salad. They were all gorgeous with really interesting flavours. I might actually start eating salad now! 😉
Finally, Mike showed us how to make really easy pita breads. I’m not much of a baker so I was surprised how easy it was to whip up delicious pita breads. We ate the warm pita breads dipped into the pestos and sauces we made earlier.
Best of all, we were allowed to take home anything we wanted. I took home some food for my boyfriend Laurence who is also a veggie, and he agreed everything tasted wonderful.
Thanks to Mike and Jo for such a great, informative and fun day. Check out their website for upcoming courses here, or their supperclubs here.
life according to lucy 